Ball’s new watch a professional Storm Chaser

Ball Watch Company has developed the latest incarnation of its Fireman Storm Chaser to meet the requirements of professional storm chaser Dr. Joshua Wurman.

Equipped with a Swiss automatic movement, the Fireman Storm Chaser Pro chronograph can record accumulated time for up to 12 hours with day and date displayed in two separate windows at the three o’clock position.

It’s a watch deserving of the professional tag given meteorologist Wurman’s impeccable credentials.

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With a science doctorate in Meteorology from MIT, Wurman is also president of the Center for Severe Weather Research and is behind the development of cutting-edge techniques for locating and analyzing tornadoes and hurricanes including his "Doppler on Wheels" invention which, for the first time in history allows scientists to get as close as possible to tornadoes in order to observe their lower levels and view their devastating winds in near real time. Wurman’s work with Ball has seen the development of the Storm Chaser chronographs within the Fireman collection.

The 42mm stainless steel case has a matt black anodized aluminium ring mounted in the bezel with telemetric scale, allowing the wearer to determine the distance of observable and audible phenomenon such as lightning strikes or tornados.

Watches with telemetric scales were originally introduced by the military to allow troops to calculate the position of enemy artillery. Activating the chronograph when the event is seen and stopping it once it is heard gives a distance reading in kilometres on the telemeter scale.

Legibility is key and the dial has been kept clear of superfluous details with grooved subdials at the six and 12 o’clock positions for chronograph minutes and hours. Versions with black, grey and white dials are available.

Areas of importance such as the chronograph pusher, tip of the seconds hand and quarter hour markers are highlighted in bright orange whilst hour markers and hands are fitted with Ball’s signature H3 micro gas tubes which according to Ball is 100 times more effective than luminous paint and requires no exterior light source.

A sapphire crystal caseback reveals the mechanical movement inside and the Fireman Storm Chaser Pro has a screw down crown and anti-reflective sapphire srystal, the watch is also water resistant to 100 metres and able to withstand impacts up to 5,000Gs.